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Top TV chef leads dinner party month to boost children's ED appeal

A top TV chef has called on the community to hold dinner parties throughout May to bolster the fundraising appeal for a new children’s emergency department in Southampton.

Shelina Permalloo, winner of the BBC’s MasterChef in 2012, said the innovative fundraising project could lead to families and friends “making more of an occasion” of dining at home.

She is supporting Southampton Children’s Hospital Charity’s ‘Dine at Mine’ initiative, which will urge people to hold dinner parties at home, in the workplace, community centres or village halls and try out a range of Shelina’s favourite recipes.

“I am really excited by the ‘Dine at Mine’ initiative as it brings together two subjects very close to my heart – a passion for cooking and socialising with friends and family and support for the development of a new children’s emergency and trauma department,” she said.

“I am hopeful that we will capture the imagination not just of people across Southampton but nationwide as we look to reignite the fun of hosting dinner parties and trying out some new and inventive recipes.”

As part of the ‘Dine at Mine’ project, Shelina is promoting a range of her favourite dishes for people to try at home including curried prawns with a cucumber relish, a chicken and prawn magic bowl and monkfish tails with spicy tomato and coconut chutney – recipes are available from the charity’s fundraising pack.

Participants will be urged to try out the cuisine and fundraise by selling tickets or charging entry fees, holding raffles or auctions, downloading party games or holding theme-related quizzes.

The children’s emergency and trauma department appeal is a partnership between Southampton Hospital Charity and The Murray Parish Trust.

It reached £1 million in donations in January but a further million in fundraising is required. This will be matched with £2 million from the government and £800,000 from University Hospital Southampton NHS Foundation Trust.

The new facility, which is expected to see more than 30,000 youngsters every year from across the south of England, will include a state of the art eight-bed observation area, 11 glass-fronted and sound proof cubicles and on-hand x-ray facilities.

Shelina, who specialises in spicy street food based on her family’s Mauritian roots and opened her first restaurant, Lakaz Maman, in Southampton in 2016, is an ambassador for Southampton Children’s Hospital Charity.

Beth Hall, head of community and event fundraising at Southampton Hospital Charity, said: “We are really grateful to Shelina for supporting our ‘Dine at Mine’ initiative and hope we can inspire the wider community to get creative in the kitchen and share their culinary skills with family and friends to help raise vital funds towards our appeal.”